High Court Upholds Ka¯hala Land Decision in Favor of Kamehameha Schools The oceanfront land under the 196-unit Ka¯hala Beach apartment building will remain leasehold property under a 5-0 ruling issued in December 2005 by the Hawai`i Supreme Court. The justices upheld an earlier ruling by Circuit Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo that the Ka¯hala Beach lessee-applicants did not have the requisite minimum of 25 applicants needed to condemn the property under Chapter 38, the repealed city ordinance that allowed residential condominium lessees to purchase their fee-simple interest through condemnation. Chief Justice Ronald Moon and associate justices Simeon Acoba, Steven Levinson and James Duffy were joined in the decision by Circuit Judge Richard Perkins ’68, sitting in for associate justice Paula Nakayama, who recused herself. The court found that several of the plaintiffs did not meet the criteria to apply for condemnation. Two lessee-applicants rented out their units while claiming they were owneroccupants as required by law; another admitted to living in his unit for only three days while the law required continuous occupancy for one year. “We’re very pleased with this decision,” said Colleen Wong ’75, vice president for legal services at Kamehameha Schools. “The land at the Ka¯hala Beach is part of a six-acre stretch of oceanfront property and provides significant support to our educational mission now and in the future.” Kamehameha Schools currently collects $3.2 million a year in lease rent from the Ka¯hala Beach apartment building, which is used to fund
campus and educational outreach programs and community collaborations.
Kamehameha Schools Press publication named “Book of the Year” For the third time in the last five years, a Kamehameha Schools Press publication has been selected “Book of the Year” at the Ka Palapala Po`okela book competition sponsored by the Hawai`i Publishers Association. The Samuel M. Kamakau Award for the Hawai`i Book of the Year went to The Fish and Their Gifts/Nä Makana a nä I`a, written in English by Joshua Stender and translated into Hawaiian by Kamehameha Schools staff. Stender and the nine illustrators featured in the book were students at Kanu o ¯ ina New Century Public ka `A Charter School in Waimea, Hawai`i. The Fish and Their Gifts/ Nä Makana a nä I`a also took home awards in the following
categories: “Award of Excellence” for Excellence in Children’s Books, fiction or nonfiction; “Award of Excellence” for Excellence in Illustration; “Honorable Mention” for Excellence in Children’s Hawaiian Culture; and “Honorable Mention” for Excellence in Children’s Illustrative or Photographic Books. “This work was the lead title in a new Kamehameha Schools Press imprint ‘Pauahi Readers,’ focusing on the reading needs of children from preschool through early elementary,” said press director Henry Bennett. “We are honored to have facilitated the formal publication of such a fine work from a student writer and nine student illustrators.” “Kamehameha and his Warrior Kekühaupi`o in 2001 and Ke Aupuni Mö`ï in 2003 were Kamehameha Schools Press publications also receiving Book of the Year honors.
Service Project Targets Waima¯nalo Community In September, the entire Kapälama Campus class of 2006 partnered with the Waimänalo Hawaiian Homestead Association and engaged in a number of community service projects as part of the Senior Service Project. Students cleared Waimänalo Stream, painted playground equipment and covered graffiti at Blanche Pope School, and assisted teachers at Kamehameha’s Waimänalo preschool and at Waimänalo Elementary and Intermediate School. Kapälama Campus character education coordinators Alyssa Brown Braffith ’70 and Judy Cramer are currently working with an advisory committee comprised of representatives throughout Kamehameha Schools in hopes of defining a Service Learning Initiative. “Our hope is that the plan will help to facilitate the Kamehameha Schools community as we move toward defining our organization as one that values service and makes a genuine difference in the lives of others,” Braffith said.
The Fish and Their Gifts
Kapa¯lama Campus seniors paint over a graffiti-laden wall at Blanche Pope Elementary School (top) and help clear Waima¯nalo Stream (above) as part of the Senior Service Project.
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